Lawrence Brown Jr. (born September 19, 1947) is an American former professional football player in the National Football League (NFL) who played running back for the Washington Redskins from 1969 to 1976.
Early life
Brown was born on September 19, 1947, in Clairton, Pennsylvania, to Rosa Lee and Lawrence Brown Sr. He was deaf in his right ear from birth. Brown was raised in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a tough neighborhood, and graduated from Schenley High School. During his high school football playing years, there would be fights in the stands when predominantly black schools played predominantly white schools. While Brown himself avoided fighting in football or in his neighborhood, he did grow up to be tough and determined. Brown's original interest was baseball, but he developed an overriding interest in football during his junior year in high school.
College football
Brown played college football in Kansas at Dodge City Community College (1965–66) and then Kansas State University in Manhattan (1967–68). He was offered a scholarship at Dodge City, but only if he tried out for and made the football team. who coached Washington in the 1969 season (his only season there before dying of cancer in September 1970). Brown was selected in the eighth round of the 17 round 1969 NFL/AFL draft in January 1969, 191st of 442 players chosen that year, and the 7th of 14 players Washington picked in the draft that year. (The team had selected him as an afterthought.)
Washington was primarily a passing team, starring All-Pro quarterback and future Hall of Famer Sonny Jurgensen. In 1967 they had the NFL's first ( future Hall of Famer receiver Charley Taylor), second (tight end Jerry Smith) and fourth (future Hall of Fame runner and receiver Bobby Mitchell) ranked receivers in passes caught, but they needed a productive rusher. Washington was first in the league in passing yards (3,730) that year, but second-to-last in rushing yards (1,247). In 1968, Jurgensen suffered broken ribs and had elbow surgery, played in only 12 games, and fell from a league-leading 3,747 passing yards in 1967, to 1,980 yards in 1968 (though Washington still had the fifth-most passing yards that year). The team fell to last in the league in rushing with 1,164 yards (3.2 yards per carry). though Brown had more carries and yards than Davis in 1968; Brown had not been widely recruited in high school. His strongest feeler came from Howard University in Washington, D.C., but upon visiting its campus, he noted the lopsided football scores against the university's teams posted on past schedules in the school's athletic building.
In 1969, newly-arrived Redskins head coach Vince Lombardi noticed Brown, a talented but underperforming running back. He made the , rookie his starter, but noticed Brown was starting slightly late behind the snap of the ball. Tests ordered by Lombardi determined that Brown was hearing-impaired in one ear, and that he was watching for the lineman to move rather than listening to the quarterback's snap count. improving Brown's responsiveness, thus allowing him to hit the hole very quickly. Brown's other rookie obstacle was his training camp propensity to fumble. Lombardi ordered Brown to carry a football everywhere he went at the team's training camp in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
Brown had an impressive rookie season during which he was largely the reason Washington posted a record of 7–5–2, their first winning record since 1955. He had rushed for 888 yards, a team record. Brown was also selected to the Pro Bowl as a rookie.
Lombardi died of cancer during the preseason of Brown's second year, 1970. Lombardi was his greatest inspiration. Brown gained a league-leading 1,125 yards running that year (4.7 yards per carry) and caught 37 passes for 341 yards and scored seven touchdowns.
Brown went to four consecutive Pro Bowls during his first four seasons Brown was the National Football League's Most Valuable Player in . He led the NFL in rushing (1,216 yards) despite missing two games with injuries. By contrast with the pre-Brown years, Washington had a balanced offense with 2,193 passing yards and 2,082 rushing yards.
Brown carried the ball 1,530 times in his career gaining 5,875 yards. His best seasons were in 1972 when he gained 1,216 yards and in 1970 when he gained 1,125 yards. and O.J. Simpson had reached 5,000 rushing yards as quickly in their careers. He rushed for 100 yards or more 21 times and rushed for 100 yards or more in six games in 1970 and six games in 1972. On October 29, 1972, he ran for 191 yards in a game against the New York Giants.
Brown was also a capable receiver, with 238 receptions for 2,485 yards over his eight years. He had 20 receiving touchdowns, to go along with his 35 rushing touchdowns. While his longest run was 75 yards, his longest pass reception was for 89 yards. He had a total of 8,360 yards from scrimmage during his regular season career, averaging 4.7 yards per touch, and 1,045 yards per year (at a time when there were only 14 games in a season).
Brown's career was cut short due to numerous injuries, and his jersey number, 43, while not officially retired, has not been issued to any other Washington player since his retirement, except to Nate Orchard for two games in 2021.
Legacy
He was noted for his tough running style despite his relatively small size, which he attributed to having been raised on the tough streets of Pittsburgh's Hill District, and playing tackle football in those streets. first saw Brown play in 1972, he was deeply impressed by Brown's intensity and desire on every play. This changed Harris's understanding of how he himself would have to play in the NFL.
He finished in the top five of the league for rushes five times, rushing yards four times, yards from scrimmage three times and total touchdowns twice. He is a member of the Washington Commanders Ring of Fame.
The Professional Football Researchers Association named Brown to the PFRA Hall of Very Good Class of 2014.
NFL career statistics
{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2"| Legend
|-
| style="background:#ffff00; width:3em;"|
|NFL MVP
|-
| style="background:#cfecec; width:3em;"|
| Led the league
|-
| Bold
| Career high
|}
{| class= "wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! rowspan="2"| Year
! rowspan="2"| Team
! colspan="2"| Games
! colspan="6"| Rushing
! colspan="5"| Receiving
! colspan="2"| Fumbles
|-
! GP !! GS !! Att !! Yds !! Avg !! Y/G !! Lng !! TD !! Rec !! Yds !! Avg !! Lng !! TD !! Fum !! FR
|-
! 1969 || WAS
| 14 || 13 || 202 || 888 || 4.4 || 63.4 || 57 || 4 || 34 || 302 || 8.9 || 31 || 0 || 6 || 2
|-
! 1970 || WAS
| 13 || 13 || 237 || style="background:#cfecec;"|1,125 || 4.7 || style="background:#cfecec;"|86.5 || 75 || 5 || 37 || 341 || 9.2 || 66 || 2 || 6 || 1
|-
! 1971 || WAS
| 13 || 13 || 253 || 948 || 3.7 || 72.9 || 34 || 4 || 16 || 176 || 11.0 || 36 || 2 || 6 || 0
|-
! style="background:#ffff00;"|1972 || WAS
| 12 || 12 || 285 || 1,216 || 4.3 || style="background:#cfecec;"|101.3 || 38 || 8 || 32 || 473 || 14.8 || 89 || 4 || 9 || 3
|-
! 1973 || WAS
| 14 || 14 || 273 || 860 || 3.2 || 61.4 || 27 || 8 || 40 || 482 || 12.1 || 64 || 6 || 7 || 2
|-
! 1974 || WAS
| 11 || 11 || 163 || 430 || 2.6 || 39.1 || 16 || 3 || 37 || 388 || 10.5 || 34 || 4 || 2 || 0
|-
! 1975 || WAS
| 14 || 8 || 97 || 352 || 3.6 || 25.1 || 43 || 3 || 25 || 225 || 9.0 || 39 || 2 || 2 || 0
|-
! 1976 || WAS
| 11 || 0 || 20 || 56 || 2.8 || 5.1 || 11 || 0 || 17 || 98 || 5.8 || 15 || 0 || 2 || 0
|-
! colspan="2"|Career || 102 || 84 || 1,530 || 5,875 || 3.8 || 57.6 || 75 || 35 || 238 || 2,485 || 10.4 || 89 || 20 || 40 || 8
|}
Post-football career
Brown is currently a Vice President of NAI Michael Commercial Real Estate Services. After retiring from football in 1976, he was employed at E.F. Hutton as a Personal Financial Management Advisor.
For 12 years, Brown was employed by Xerox Corporation with responsibilities for business and community relations.
He has served on the Board of Directors of Mellon Bank (MD); the Board of Visitors of George Mason University; the Board of Directors of the Greater Washington, D.C. Sports Authority; and a Delegate to Japan with the American Council of Young Political Leaders.
He makes regular appearances at Redskins alumni events.